Big Walnuts Yonder

A collaboration between four celebrated figures in the independent music community, Big Walnuts Yonder is a meeting of the minds featuring bassist and vocalist Mike Watt (best known for his work with the Minutemen and the Stooges), guitarist Nels Cline (of Wilco, the Geraldine Fibbers, and the Nels Cline Singers), guitarist and singer Nick Reinhart (from the band Tere Melos), and drummer Greg Saunier (of Deerhoof). The first glimmers of the project came when Watt toured with Tere Melos in Japan in 2008, and the guitarist and bassist discussed making an album together. When Reinhart asked Watt about working with Nels Cline, who played lead guitar on Watt's 1997 "punk opera" Contemplating the Engine Room, Watt suggested the best way to learn about him was to make music with him, and Cline soon accepted their invitation to join the project. Cline proposed that Reinhart choose the drummer for the sessions, and he and Watt were pleased when he suggested Greg Saunier, a favorite of both musicians. While Watt wrote a batch of songs for the project, and Cline and Saunier each contributed a tune, the multiple commitments of the musicians meant that the quartet members weren't able to go into the studio together until the summer of 2014, when they congregated at Studio G in Brooklyn, New York with Tony Maimone (formerly of Pere Ubu) as engineer. The musicians recorded their tracks in three days, and after the fact, Reinhart and Watt cut their lead vocals using their home-recording setups. In May 2017, the self-titled debut Big Walnuts Yonder was released by Sargent House Records.
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